Solar eclipse and tribute to an old friend

I woke up early to a bright sunny day, and joined the nation, waiting to see the promised eclipse of the sun. The media reportage was a little incohate, in that one was left with the impression it started all over Britain around twenty past eight. In Cardiff it started around twenty past nine. Both are true, if you're listening and watching the skies out in the Orkneys, the moon will be seen to pass that much earlier in front of the sun. But this point was not re-iterated clearly enough. 

Anyway, the sun rose in a cloudless sky, and best way I could find to view it was to dig out a strip of photo negative with a completely darkened frame at the end, and use just one eye. It worked fine, but best of all, I found that holding it up in front of a camera to take a picture also worked with a little practice and a lot of luck. This was my best shot, not long before maximum cover was reached, and the air noticeably chilled for a few minutes.

Several neighbours were out in their gardens watching, and discussing quietly what they were seeing. Then, just as the eclipse was ending, I received a phone call from Cocqueline Bell, daughter of my old friend Michael Bell from Geneva days, who died aged 90 in France-voisine last weekend. She asked if I could attend his funeral next Tuesday in Holy Trinity Geneva and speak about him. Such an honour to be asked, but impossible to do, as next week I'm already booked to do a Mass and a funeral on both Tuesday and Wednesday. But I promised that I'd write something for the occasion. 

This I was able to do before going into the CBS office for the afternoon. It was a pleasant task, as I had lovely memories of discussions with Michael, also waiting on school dinner tables with the Geneva Cuisine Scholaire, officiating at his marriage (aged 80) to his second wife Barbara, plus some lovely meals and lively conversation, fuelled by a variety of the best French wines available at any price, low or high. He was a conoisseur of value as well as taste, as buyer for a local wine buffs' co-operative organised by international civil servants.

The evening edition of 'Stargazing Live', with its images of the sun taken at different light wavelengths, as well as of the eclipse itself was an absorbing watch. Little time-lapse videos and still pictures of the moon's shadow crossing the planet, as seen from the space station were shown, most impressive.

The detailed composite image of the Orion constellation produced since yesterday's programme was also revealed. One of the presenters pointed out that every pixel of recorded light, received from the 75,000 photos received contributed to building the big picture, no matter how humble the equipment used. Prof Stephen Hawking contributed an image. They showed a photo of him at home with his telescope, a nice touch.